[Investors Business Daily] Immigration: After releasing tens of thousands of criminal aliens, President Obama urgently asks law enforcement officials to lean on Republicans to pass amnesty. Will the GOP deport itself out of victory this year? Criminals freeing criminals. Should we be surprised ?
Congressman Lamar Smith called it "the worst prison break in American history, except it was sanctioned by the president and perpetrated by our own immigration officials."
According to a document obtained from the Center for Immigration Studies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement released 36,007 convicted aliens last year who were being detained pending deportation. The tally includes 193 convictions for homicide, 426 for sexual assault, 303 for kidnapping, 1,075 for aggravated assault and 16,070 for drunk or drugged driving. Champ is simply setting the stage for the eventual release of all 'political prisoners.'
[WashExaminer] As Libya continues to crumble in the wake of the NATO-led regime change that deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the U.S. this month has felt compelled to mobilize in anticipation of another intervention -- two and a half years later.
President Obama has sent our Marines nearly to the shores of Tripoli. Reuters reports that the Pentagon "has temporarily moved nearly 200 Marines to Sicily from their base in Spain as a precaution due to concerns about unrest in North Africa, bolstering the U.S. ability to respond to any crisis.
"The Pentagon declined to single out any countries but two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said American concerns were centered squarely on Libya ...."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/18/2014 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
In response to Russia's involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, the United States has tightened its export controls, and this has seriously hurt important Russian space projects. US authorities are apparently denying export licenses that allow European and other foreign communications satellites containing US components to be launched into space by Russian rockets. This decision has effectively pushed the Russian Federation out of the highly prestigious (though limited) international space launch market. In 2014, the country's space agency, Roscosmos, was planning 38 space launches, with 10 of them contracted to carry foreign payloads. Commercial space launches of foreign satellites have been bringing Russia some $700--800 million a year. This additional income is important both economically and psychologically--a symbolic vestige of Russia still being a high-tech powerhouse. If Russia is pushed out of the commercial satellite launch marketplace by US sanctions, even temporarily, it would be difficult to ever come back fully, as cheaper Chinese and private US space launchers pick up its market share (http://expert.ru/2014/04/29/podstavili-soyuznikov/).
The Russian space industry has, in recent years, been using US-made and designed materials and radiation-resistant electronics to produce double-use and military satellites. Procuring these components may become a problem that could significantly hinder efforts to rebuild Russia's military and intelligence-gathering space programs. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, in charge of Russia's space and defense industries, complained: "The US is not only limiting its cooperation with Russia, it is putting pressure on other nations to forbid the shipment of satellites built for Russia in Western Europe, if they contain American components" (http://www.rg.ru/2014/05/13/bumerang-site.html).
New Russian communications satellites of the "Express" series are built by a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS--hence reorganized as Airbus Group) (Kommersant, November 11, 2013). The French-Italian Thales Alenia Space company has been helping build a second geodesy satellite Geo-IK-2, providing key components that will help build a precise, three-dimensional map of the Earth's surface. The first Geo-IK-2, also known as Kosmos 2470, was launched in 2011 into a wrong orbit because of rocket failure and eventually crashed. The second Geo-IK-2 is reported to have been substantially modernized using space-quality electronic components and is scheduled to be launched this year. The Russian press has described the Geo-IK-2 as a "military satellite," and the high-resolution 3D world map it is designed to produce (surpassing existing Russian versions) could be used for precision weapons targeting and improving the effectiveness of satellite intelligence gathering (http://www.interfax.ru/russia/318110). Roscosmos hopes to eventually have two Geo-IK-2 satellites permanently in orbit. The loss of the first was a serious calamity, while now US sanctions threaten to cancel the entire project.
Before the Ukrainian crisis, during the heyday of President's Barack Obama's "reset" charm offensive, Washington was apparently turning a blind eye to aggressive Russian procurement of high-tech, double-use equipment and technologies. Today a US move to deny high-tech export licenses threatens to set back the entire Russian military modernization project, which is based primarily on using space-connected technologies to develop new precision weapons, intelligence-gathering, communications, and command and control capabilities. In response Rogozin went ballistic, threatening to terminate US-Russian space cooperation programs: to stop selling RD-180 and NK-33 rocket engines "if they are used to launch US military satellites," to close down GPS correction (Global Navigation Satellite System--GNSS) stations on Russian soil, and sink prematurely in the ocean the International Space Station (ISS) by 2020 (http://www.rg.ru/2014/05/13/bumerang-site.htm).
Russia has been selling to the US rocket engines that are attached to space boosters like the Atlas, produced jointly by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The Atlas rocket is used to launch military US satellites; so it seems, under Rogozin's terms, the export of RD-180 engines it uses will be terminated and the Atlas may be phased out of use. But Russia has already shipped to the United States a sizable supply of RD-180s--enough to last two years, while alternative US-made engines or privately produced launchers are being introduced (http://www.vedomosti.ru/tech/news/26468181/zapret-na-postavku-rossijskih-raketnyh-dvigatelej-poka-ne#ixzz31j4nAK9B). Russia's contract to sell the US 101 RD-180 rocket engines worth hundreds of millions of dollars may be lost (http://www.interfax.ru/world/376022).
This week in Sochi, President Vladimir Putin announced: "We must ensure that everything our defense industry needs and uses is produced on our territory and we do not depend on anyone" (http://www.kremlin.ru/news/21021). Russian experts consider Putin's call for complete scientific and technological self-sufficiency to be an impossible task (http://top.rbc.ru/politics/14/05/2014/923813.shtml). Russia's Trade and Industry Minister Denis Manturov told journalists that he was surprised by calls to undermine the work of GPS-connected equipment in Russia. He did not see any sense in such obstruction and wondered if "Rogozin was just promoting his personal opinion" (http://www.interfax.ru/print.asp?sec=1448&id=376041). Manturov was immediately rebuked: A government spokesperson confirmed all announced anti-American moves were officially approved, while Rogozin demanded Manturov "end being part of the fifth column" (http://www.interfax.ru/russia/376039). Rogozin's anti-American sanctions may hinder Russia more than the US, but they follow Putin's general line to isolate Russia from the West as much as possible.
#2
"Falcon Heavy is the worlds most powerful rocket, a launch vehicle of scale and capability unequaled by any other currently flying. With the ability to lift into orbit over 53 metric tons (117,000 lb)--a mass equivalent to a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel--Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy, at one-third the cost. Falcon Heavy draws upon the proven heritage and reliability of Falcon 9. Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 nine engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate nearly 4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. Only the Saturn V moon rocket, last flown in 1973, delivered more payload to orbit. Falcon Heavy was designed from the outset to carry humans into space and restores the possibility of flying missions with crew to the Moon or Mars." Source: Spacex webpage
#2
Bottom line: Unemployment numbers and people on the dole are tracked and have political consequences. Numbers of cars rolling off the assembly line.... not so much.
While Soviet style make-work projects keep everyone busy, unfortunately excess production solutions will probably not work. Automobiles will likely not be packed in cosmoline and stored in sturdy wooden crates to be sold to western collectors 50-70 years hence.
#3
Engines hate sitting. Diesel worse than gas, but all engines hate sitting.
If these aren't old pics from 2009, and this is current, and these cars are sitting 2 or more years before sale, the engines will have significantly shorter working lives.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/18/2014 5:36 Comments ||
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#4
This article reflects a few poor business practices coming together. The auto industry is one of the few that refuse to allow their models to ever be less expensive because they do not want to pis off last years owners and appear to stop growing to investors.
Couple that with high unemployment, flat wages, increased taxes, increased healthcare costs.... And you have a bunch of unsold new cars.
Personally I drive a 2003 ford f-150 and have wanted a new one since 2009. Just cannot seem to get the courage and confidence to pull the trigger on a new one.
#5
2010 F-150 short box. Had 17k miles on her when I finally found her. Painted bumper, crank windows, factory wheels, rubber mat. Other than hitch and bedliner, all factory stock. No decals, no BS. 18.5mpg around the village, over 21mpg on the highway. Could well be my last vehicle. I'm betting she'll outlive me.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/18/2014 8:59 Comments ||
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#7
I couldn't help thinking.. they wouldn't notice a few missing. Papers and windshield serial number from a junkyard... but it falls apart at the EPA mandated emission test where the car computer would report a different serial number.. oh well
[DAWN] It is one of the weirdest school enrolment drives ever: Surrender a son to the madrassa (religious seminary), or pay 400,000 rupees (US$4,000) instead.
The bully boyz in Pakistain's tribal areas are openly coercing families to hand over their sons, or buy out their freedom.
Only a few miles from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , posters have appeared on walls in the Bara district asking parents to enlist at least one son with a seminary affiliated with Ishat-o-Tauheed, a subsidiary of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), an outlawed murderous Moslem group headed by Mangal Bagh ...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency... Afridi.
The directives are clear. Only those enrolled in seminaries affiliated with LI will count.
The bully boyz perhaps are running short on beachheads or jacket wallahs. The Taliban's rank-and-file are made up of orphans or children abandoned by parents because of abject poverty. Militancy, devastating floods, and the earthquake in October 2005 forced the poor affected households to give up their children to religious seminaries.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/18/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami
[Ynet] Paleostinian professor who took students to Auschwitz is latest victim of campaign against those promoting normalization with 'enemy.'
The derogatory name "tatbia" (which can be loosely translated as making something natural and normal) was invented immediately after the Israel-Egypt peace treaty was signed, 35 years ago. While the agreements spoke about a series of collaborations with Israel in order to intensify the atmosphere of peace, the "tatbia" was born to sabotage it.
Anyone who was "caught" in a relationship with Israelis, anyone who invited visitors from Israel to his home, anyone who was seen alongside Israelis on the street or at a restaurant or agreed to participate in academic conferences with Israelis, immediately received the derogatory name "mutabia." A person who insists, for his own dark reasons, to create normalization with the Israeli "enemy."
Late urologist Prof. Mahmoud Badr arrived for a professional tour of our hospitals only after receiving the go-ahead from the presidential palace in Cairo. He was the pioneer of "normalizers," and when he returned he found himself on the black list of the "tatbia" and was expelled from the Egyptian Urological Association.
He was followed by satirist Ali Salem who made a surprise visit to Tel Aviv, toured Israel for three weeks and, upon his return, sat down to write a book of experiences which became a huge hit across the Arab world, but the Writers Syndicate in Cairo demanded that he apologize for the spontaneous initiative. When he insisted on refusing, he was expelled disgracefully and the country's media outlets were forbidden to employ him.
The "tatbia" punishments were adopted in Jordan too, after the peace. The king had to intervene in person in order to rescue a journalist who gave an interview to media outlets in Israel after the peace treaty and back businesspeople who traveled to sign deals and set up joint factories in spite of the opponents of peace.
The comic duo from Amman, Nabil and Hisham, received death threats during their visit to Israel. After their case, the journalists' association issues warnings and does not hesitate to punish those caught engaging in "tatbia."
Absurdity reached a new level when during a summit in a reconciliatory atmosphere between the Israeli prime minister, the Egyptian president and the Jordanian king, it was decided to convey positive messages through media interviews. Then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... gave an interview to Yedioth Ahronoth, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave an interview to al-Ahram. When the interviewer returned to Cairo with the tape, he was first of all summoned to a "members' trial" at the journalists' syndicate, which threatened to expel him if he failed to apologize for his "mistake."
The "tatbia" is a big no-no in Morocco too, and an Israeli diplomat was smuggled through a rear window in the middle of an international conference for fear of liquidation.
A heated debate is taking place these days in the Tunisian government: Ministers are threatening to expel their colleagues -- the ministers who said they are in favor of the entry of visitors with Israeli passports in order to boost the country's income from tourism. The excuse, as always, is that until a Paleostinian state is established, "tatbia" with the "enemy" is forbidden.
Prof. Mohammed Dajani of the Paleostinian al-Quds University is the latest victim. Last month, he took 27 students to visit the Nazi concentration camps in Poland. He wrote about the tour with a lot of excitement, published pictures from Auschwitz and promised that if he would get more funding he would take additional groups of Paleostinians there: High school students, leading women, intellectuals and journalists. He called it a "study tour," insisting that the Paleostinians must see the price of the Nazi horror with their own eyes.
Last weekend, Dajani was hit with a wave of black surprises. The Paleostinian media are calling him a "traitor" and "collaborator," the lecturers' association announced that it was expelling him because of the "tatbia," and a group of students stormed the professor's office, broke things, drove the secretary away and left letters threatening Dajani not to even think of returning to the campus.
Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , who condemned the Holocaust in a speech in Ramallah, did not come to his rescue.
Yes great Queen, like most gov't programs, gov't forced integration has failed miserably. Until urbanization is complete, the distillation of American exceptionalism cannot be realized. There will still be those few racist holdouts, who refuse to leap into the progressive bedpan of dependency and dispair.
#1
They talk about 'white flight' but never ever address the upper and middle class black flight that accompanied it. They both leave for the same reasons.
You get the effect of segregation when you ignore the need for discipline which drives those seeking security elsewhere, beyond the reach of politicians and judges to impose their will upon them. You get the effect of segregation when political machines implement redistribution and entitlement (free stuff) programs that draw that community into their urban areas as a trade for votes to stay in power. The first consequence follows the second consequence as you excuse the self inflected free will destructive behaviors that keep much of the community poor.
[Wash Times] Rep. Peter King, New York Republican, said Friday there are many unanswered questions surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack on Benghazi, but that to make it a political attack on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is "wrong." Hey Pete, we're just kicking the tires, and they're all flat.
"To me, there are major questions here as to why more action was not taken to provide security beforehand, and also when was this decision made, and why was it was made, in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, to say it was caused by a video when nothing on the ground was saying that?" Mr. King, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CNN. Pete King and Mike Rogers, living proof the 'HPSCI' is an oxymoronic acronym. Sort of like 'New York Republican' if you get my drift.
Mr. King said officials in the CIA, the White House and State Department were coming up with what "appears to be, I believe, a cover story after the fact." Mind like a steel trap, that Pete King, but he knows when to put down insurance.
#1
Mr. King said officials in the CIA, the White House and State Department were coming up with what "appears to be, I believe, a cover story after the fact."
I think that's exactly correct. And King's on the Intelligence committee, so he probably knows but cannot say more.
But the political issue is 'Are the people who needed to come up with a cover story AFTER the action, and could come up with nothing better than this, competent to be in charge?
It is not just Markos of Daily Kos infamy claiming the Left has won the culture war. The Week's Matt Lewis is saying the same. Yeah, they are both kinda trolling. So 'scuse me while I take the bait. Let's start with the biggie: same-sex marriage.
Yes, polls show gay marriage is breaking out all over, but when put to a vote same-sex marriage has lost (even in California) much more often than not. Furthermore, gay marriage is not being legalized through popular opinion or demand, it is being legalized through activist judges. There is no question that attitudes have changed dramatically towards homosexuals getting gay-married. But the difference between what opinion polls and actual votes have produced should give The Culture Conquerors some pause.
Granted, many of the referendums passed in favor of traditional marriage some years back probably wouldnât today. But it is still absurd to call the entire culture war over when you have to rely on autocratic judges to get your way because there is no Civil Rights-style uprising in favor of gay marriage. There is a lot of whining and bullying and cry-babying and media bias pushing gay marriage. But no one is taking it to the streets, or even the ballot box.
Bottom line: Gay marriage has had to be forced on an American people that is either indifferent or opposed. A win's a win, I guess, but it's an ugly and divisive win that did not come with popular acceptance.
The silliest part of The Culture War Is Over talk is the lack of historical context. During the hedonistic Roaring 20's and the Dirty Filthy Hippie 60's, the Left was probably pretty sure they had won the culture wars. Then post-war America and the 80's happened.
#1
The Left has won the ability to convince the rubes that the oligarchy is still the old republic so that they'll send their sons and daughters off to die to protect their power.
#5
We should know a little more about who's winning the culture was after the 2014 elections. I'll wait and see with hope about the outcome. Hope that the donks lose the Senate.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
